


Count Down

by Treeni



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: ANNNNGGGGGGSSSSST, Angst, Gen, I mean it, This is totally angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-05-16 15:16:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5830468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treeni/pseuds/Treeni
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Personal challenge with skelegirl based off a prompt. </p><p>Sans has to count down to what really matters. Sometimes there's more going on than even he realized. </p><p>10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2..1...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Count Down

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Skelitzel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skelitzel/gifts).



When Sans opened his eyes, he was in his room again. This. This was his life. He’d been on the surface this time for three weeks. It was inevitable though, it seemed he would always end up back here. At that realization, Sans just rolled over and pulled the cover further over his skull. It wouldn’t be long before Papyrus came to get him up anyway.

 

-10-

 

Sans hid himself within the trees as he waited for the telling creaking noise of the ruins door. It was just a matter of time. He was certain it would happen today. Sure enough, maybe a half an hour later, the door opened, protesting with a long, eerie groaning noise. A familiar young face peeked out from the old door. Sans felt his throat caught when he caught sight of their face. There face was smudged. Maybe the kid just tripped and landed on their face at some point on their journey through the ruins. It was plausible right? Maybe it was ash. The lady behind the door did use fire attacks right?

He still found himself wincing when he saw them cut the cord to Alphys’ camera. Was it really going to be one of those timelines?

Maybe he could still find a way to change their mind.

He watched silently as the kid walked further down the snow covered road and out of hearing range. Despite being able to move through time and space at his will, he would have to be quick if he wanted to make it back in time enough to catch up to the kid as they reached the branch. He had to be sure though. After looking around to check that the coast was clear, he emerged by the door and gave a brisk knock.

...but nobody came.

 

-9-

 

Sans watched them. He still hoped that maybe he could change their mind. So far though? They hadn’t been very cooperative. Papyrus was a bit lackluster as the human continued to ignore all of his hard work. He did what he could to cheer up his brother, but he could only do so much when he was busy trying to keep track of the human. He was disappointed in them. The royal dog squad was all gone. He had watched the kid kill them all. If he could change their mind though, maybe he could convince them to reset. They could have their happy ending again. He knew they could. 

This time he didn’t wait for them as they walked down the path toward the blue door. He had played a trick on them last time, teasing them a bit with his abilities. He could see the small knowing smile on their face though. He knew he didn’t have to explain it to them. It was their little secret. 

That was a different timeline though and a different kid. Maybe they had the same face, but he knew there was something different about them. There was something different about them almost every reset he’s experienced. 

Sans was a little confused when the kid put googly eyes over their own and made faces at Giftrot. Maybe they were trying to turn things around finally? He hoped so, for Papyrus’ sake. Giftrot seemed to just grow angrier and lashed out at them for it. The kid honestly looked shocked and hurt by the backlash, but then their face just grew stern. Gone was the playful kid now. 

Sans almost gave away his position when he gasped at the sudden attack. Giftrot was gone in a single hit. The kid moved on toward the cave without even glancing back. Sans gathered some of the monster’s ashes in his pocket to sprinkle on the tree in town later. He had to warn the people of Snowdin before it was too late. 

Just as he was about to teleport away out of the corner of his eye socket he caught sight of a sudden puff of dust emerge from the cave’s opening. 

Oh kid…

He had to warn Papyrus. 

 

-8-

 

Papyrus was always a gentle soul. His brother always meant well. His brother meant too well. It didn’t seem to matter what he said or what timeline it was, he could never convince his brother to leave town with the rest of the residents. He always tried to ‘save’ them. He believed in them too much. 

Even when there was nothing left in that thing that was left to save. Sans cared about Frisk a lot. The kid was practically family at this point. He’d experienced so much good from them. So many timelines with amazing outcomes. However, sometimes when the kid came through the ruins door, they were wrong. They weren’t Frisk.

There was something darker about them. Inhuman. Something that he knew wasn’t the kid he and his brother had grown to care about. 

It was harder every time. 

He had to let Papyrus try. If he didn’t, there was no hope.

If anyone could convince the kid to change their ways, to remember their humanity. It was his brother. Almost as often as not the kid would go running in his goof of a brother’s arms in tears. They would apologize profusely and Papyrus would tell them that it was all okay. They were just scared sometimes. In those timelines the three of them would go home. Papyrus would make spaghetti and Sans would sneak the kid fries from Grillby’s. 

This wasn’t one of those timelines. 

He watched as his brother opened his arms wide, giving the kid mercy. He tried to give them a hug. His big doof of a brother tried to show them that he accepted him and would forgive them. That there was more to them than what they had done. A grin just came upon the kid’s face and Papyrus smiled back. 

He was still smiling when they detached his skull from his spinal cord. 

Even as he faded to dust, his arms were still open wide and accepting. 

There was no saving this timeline. Sans would have to make them reset. 

 

-7-

 

Sans had his hood pulled up over his face as he watched from the corner. The dirty brother killer was humming a song with sweet, quiet Shyren. He’s seen the consequences of his interference though. If he was killed off now, there would be no escape for anyone. He had to make sure as many monsters got out of the way of their killing spree as he could manage. If no one could get them to stop he would have to be the one to encourage Alphys. He was tired of this dust bowl though. He didn’t want to watch them anymore. He wanted no part of this dark timeline. He didn’t want to judge. 

Sans just wanted his brother back. 

He had to turn away when the human struck Shyren with a surprise attack. That murderer was going after people in their weak moments. 

Before he could stop the train of thought, Sans found himself wondering if Papyrus would still believe in the kid if he could see everything that Sans was.

Sans snorted. He probably would. That nerd. 

-6-

Sans wasn’t too hopeful that Undyne could stop them. He had always respected her for her strength and determination. She had a way of inspiring people. She could make people believe that she could do anything. Once upon a time, Sans had believed it too. He once thought she could stop them too. That woman was a hell of a fighter. He knew it, but the kid had an unfair advantage. They could memorize her every move. It didn’t matter how many times she killed them it seemed. The kid would just keep coming back and back and back. 

The kid struck a killing blow. 

Just to prove how great she was, Undyne even said no to death. With pure determination alone, the head of the Royal Guard had stopped imminent death to instead become Undyne, the Undying. In an instant she became the hero that she always dreamed she would be. 

Instants don’t last though and even that wasn’t enough. That thing’s determination seemed to outweigh the woman who for as long as Sans could remember would wake up every morning before sunrise and start her five hour training session before starting her duties of the day as Head Royal Guard. 

Sometimes though, sometimes working hard just wasn’t enough. 

Just ask his brother. 

 

-5-

 

Sans couldn’t say he particularly liked that dummy very much or the ghost inhabiting it. He was loud and rude. However, there were some things about him that were admirable. The way he defended his cousin was almost touching. The spirit was overzealous though and would often take things out of context or too far. He would blow even the most minor of circumstances out of proportion. 

There was something about the darker timelines that had always perplexed Sans though. The ghost inhabiting the dummy would become so angry, for what they did to his cousin, for what they were doing to the other monsters in the underground. The ghost would become so overwrought with emotion that he would finally achieve his dream and become sentient within the dummy. 

Then he would forgive them. 

Sans could never understand that. The timelines where the spirit had every reason to be angry at them, he forgave them. He never did realize his situation in time. A demon child goes around and kills everyone. He could have tried to stop them, or at least delay them long enough for more monsters to escape, but instead he becomes one with the physical body of the dummy just in time to die. 

In some ways he felt bad for the spirit. 

In other ways he thought he was really stupid.

-4-

 

The baker was always a bit of a wildcard when it came to how they reacted to the kid. Sometimes she thought the kid was a spider. Sometimes she was grateful to them for their contributions. Sometimes she thought they would add a new interesting flavor to their baked goods.  
It was really a toss of a dice what she would think of them it seemed. 

However there was always one consistent. 

Sans felt guilty every time he had to resort to this, but sometimes there was just no choice. A bag of gold found its way to the spider’s bake sale table with a note attached to it. The note instructed her to stop the kid at all costs. 

He’s tried before, but the spiders wouldn’t leave no matter what he told them. They were still working to free the spiders from the ruins. Muffet said they wouldn’t abandon them. Not again. Sans could understand the sentiment, but deep down he wished he could have convinced her. There was a nice person in her deep down. 

He didn’t bother arguing this timeline. It would just waste precious moments he needed. With the money left he knew Muffet would follow what the note said. Chances were the kid would have fought them one way or another anyway. 

Muffet didn’t like rotten ingredients. 

In the meantime, he had to talk to Alphys and get the capital clear.

He wasn’t surprised when he teleported back that Muffet’s domain was deserted. He had to check that none of the remaining spiders needed help escaping. 

The spiders were awfully self sufficient though. It was rare that they ever needed help. This time, none had been injured or left behind. He was alone. 

There was a single golden flower left on the floor. It was a nice sentiment and used most likely because it was one of the easiest flowers to get at the capital, but Sans pulled out a single iris from inside of his hoodie and laid it so the stem would cross the other flower’s.

Muffet deserved better than this. 

They all did.

 

-3-

 

There was once a time that Sans really disliked the oversized calculator on wheels. He was self absorbed, obsessive and overly cocky. Sans had once considered the robot a bad influence on his brother. 

Normally, Sans hated to be proven wrong, but this was one of the few cases he was glad for it. Mettaton was a big help in the evacuations. He distracted the human and misled them enough to help Alphys get free. He was able to use his popularity alone to make people listen to him. He broadcasted his warning on all networks. More people were able to get away because of him than Sans would have ever been able to save on his own. He helped give Alphys the confidence to lead the people to safety. 

Sans really could not have pulled it off without him. 

Then, to top everything off. He stayed behind to help defend those escaping against the humans. Particularly Alphys it seemed. He had even called Sans out on wanting to stay behind too. He told him to go warn the king. 

It was almost laughable. 

The king would never listen to him. 

He believed in people as much as Papyrus had. 

To top off the fact that there was nothing human left about that kid. 

Sans would nod though anyway, accepting his role. All he could do is wait for the kid to finally make it to him and do his best to force them out.

Before leaving, Sans glanced at the robot one final time. Mettaton was so much more than he had once thought. With determination to protect those he cared about that matched even Undyne’s Sans knew he was a force to be reckoned with. His biggest regret was probably not being there to help Alphys in his creation. 

If things went as he hoped though, maybe he could still fix him. 

Sans tightened the red scarf around his neck.

 

-2-

 

He had told Alphys to go! They were supposed to retreat with everyone else! That was the problem with the timelines though wasn’t it? Something was always a little different. There was always a variable he didn’t count on. How was he ever supposed to guess that she would try and come back for Undyne’s ashes? She never had before. 

How could he…

How could he have known?

He went back to the lab in hot land to see if there was anything he could do for the robot. Papyrus had always been so fond of him. He would have wanted Sans to save him. He would have counted on him to. He hadn’t expected to walk in and find the remains of a shattered urn on the floor. Next to it was a pile of dust covering a dirty white lab coat and a pair of circular glasses. He couldn’t do anything proper for them right now. There wasn’t time. 

His conscious wouldn’t just let him leave it though, so he did the only thing he could with the time he had left. He grabbed Alphys’ anime cases and made a mini shrine around the two piles of dust. 

At least they were finally together…

...He could still fix this…

...He would fix this.

 

-1-

 

This was his last chance to get them to reset. He could fix everything. He could. Battling the human wasn’t easy. He knew it wouldn’t be. They had accumulated so much LV. More than he had ever before remembered. He refused to give up though. He had to do it for them. He could still save them. 

He… he could.

He had tried to give them mercy, but they refused. He must have done his job pretty well in a previous reset. Apparently they weren’t as good of friends as he hoped. 

Oh well. That hardly deterred him. This monster still had a job to do. It was kind of ironic if he thought about it. The human becoming exactly what humans thought they were. Monster, human, it didn’t really matter at this point. No one was safe. He had a job to do…

He had…

Oh lord they were wearing him out. 

Seriously, this resetting nonsense was not fair. 

There was one thing left he could do. 

Nothing. 

He just had to out wait them. 

He just…

...just….

...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The human had tried to cheat.

Ha! Did they really think it would be that easy?! 

Did they-

Oh.

 

-0-

 

Hey Papyrus, I’m going to Grillby’s. Do you want anything?

**Author's Note:**

> Please go read Skelegirl's sister story for the same prompt on her page! Her's will also be titled Count Down. 
> 
> Also, I know I need to update Backbone, trust me I know! This next chapter is just really long and has a lot going on! I will get it up I promise!


End file.
